Newport R.I.- In the battle of the top two teams in the Coastal division, the Mystic Schooners emerged victorious against the Newport Gulls 4-1 at Cardines Field improving their record to 15-10 in the season. The Gulls dropped to 21-7 in the season.
Before the game, Gulls Santhosh Gottam (Brown University) who faced Schooners three times during the season giving up one runs in 10 innings pitched, talked about his performance over the weekend against the Ocean State Waves “Just throw strikes and we have a great defense they were making all the plays for me,”
Rhode Island’s own Ryan Andrade (University of Pittsburgh) was on the mound. Unfortunately for Andrade, the Schooners struck first thanks to Drew Kron’s RBI single in the second.
The Schooners extended their lead in the fourth when Anthony DePino hit his third home run of the season.
The Gulls finally had their first hit of the game, it came in the fifth thanks to Kolton Freeman (Dartmouth College) few batters later we had an ugly scene at Cardines as Jacob Burley (Brown University) was hit in the face and with a pitch and was removed from the game. Burley appeared to be okay and was taken out of the game as a precaution.
David Horn (Vanderbilt University) was in trouble in the eighth, but the defense picked him up as the Gulls completed their third double play of the game.
The bases were loaded when Mike Bello connected on his third hit of the game that drove home two more runs for the Schooners that extended their lead.
The Gulls were looking to rally in the ninth as Matthew Shark (Southern Illinois University) connected with an RBI single. Unfortunately that’s all the scoring that they could muster up.
Andrade’s night only lasted 3.2 innings giving up two earned runs. Nelson Berkwich (University of North Carolina) followed, and he pitched 2.1 innings giving up two walks and a strike out. Finally, David Horn pitched three innings giving up two earned runs.
This was the first time this season that the Gulls lost in back-to-back games since June 25 and 26 of last season.
The Gulls are looking to bounce back tomorrow night when they travel to face the Marthas Vineyard Sharks. The Gulls will return to Cardines Field on Wednesday night as they will face the North Shore Navigators first pitch is scheduled at 6:35 p.m.
